> Militants wire Web with links to jihad > > By Jack Kelley, USA TODAY > > ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - One Web site urges Muslims to travel to Pakistan to > "slaughter American soldiers." Another solicits donations to buy dynamite > to "blow up Israeli Jews." A third shows new videotape of Osama bin Laden > and promises film clips of American casualties in Afghanistan. As the > United States and its allies hunt them in caves, mountains and jungles, > al-Qaeda, Hamas and dozens of other militant Muslim groups are > increasingly turning to the Internet to carry on their jihad, or holy war, > against the West, U.S. law enforcement officials and experts say. It has > become one of al-Qaeda's primary means of communication, they say. The > groups use their Web sites to plan attacks, recruit members and solicit > donations with little or no chance of being apprehended by the FBI or > other law enforcement agencies, officials say. > > This new cyber-battlefield is allowing al-Qaeda and other groups to stay > "several steps ahead" of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, a senior U.S. law > enforcement official says. > > Most of the information on the Web sites is written in Arabic and > encrypted, or scrambled. The encrypted data is then hidden in digital > photographs, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to find or read, > officials say. The groups regularly change the addresses of their Web > sites to confound officials. > > "Under the present circumstances of the global war against terrorism, the > Internet has become a vital tool and, obviously, an easy one to exploit," > says terrorism analyst Reuven Paz of the International Policy Institute > for Counter-Terrorism, an independent think tank based in Herzliya, > Israel. It's "the most efficient way (for terrorists) to spread their > message on a daily basis." > > U.S. officials have little doubt that al-Qaeda and other militant groups > are using the Web to set up terrorist attacks against the United States. > They tell USA TODAY that Abu Zubaydah, 30, a Palestinian who was arrested > in Pakistan last March and is suspected of being bin Laden's operations > chief, used a Web site to plan the Sept. 11 attacks and to communicate > with the terrorists who hijacked jets and flew them into the World Trade > Center and Pentagon. > > Earlier this year, officials say, they found nearly 2,300 encrypted > messages and data files in a password-protected section of an Islamic Web > site that had been downloaded onto Zubaydah's computer. The messages began > in May 2000, peaked in August 2001 and stopped Sept. 9, two days before > the attacks, officials say. They declined to identify the Web site. > > Volume of messages doubles > > Lately, al-Qaeda operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted > messages that have been hidden in files on digital photographs on the > auction site eBay.com. Most of the messages have been sent from Internet > cafes in Pakistan and public libraries throughout the world. An eBay > spokesperson did not return phone calls. > > The volume of the messages has nearly doubled in the past month, > indicating to some U.S. intelligence officials that al-Qaeda is planning > another attack. > > Tuesday, al-Qaeda spokesman Suliman Abu Ghaith told an Arabic newspaper > that the group's suicide militants were "ready and impatient" to attack > U.S. targets in America and around the world. > > Since Sept. 11, the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency say they have > hired dozens more Arabic-speaking analysts and mathematicians to interpret > and decode the information on the Web sites. > > They add that there's little they can do to stop the terrorist groups from > using the Web to communicate. There are no laws directly regulating the > sites or preventing them from operating. Instead, officials must persuade > the companies that host the sites to shut them down. But as soon as a > terrorist site is taken off one Web server, it often appears on another, > officials say. > > In the past five weeks, al-Qaeda's Arabic Web site, alneda.com, has > emerged on three different servers, in Malaysia, Texas and Michigan. The > site was eventually removed from the servers after the Web hosting > companies, which say they often don't screen or translate the sites, > received complaints from the public and law enforcement agencies. U. S. > officials are expecting the site, which began operating in January, to > re-emerge soon. > > "The U.S. enemy, unable to gain the upper hand over the mujahedin on the > battlefield, has since Sept. 11 been trying to gag the world media," said > a statement posted on alneda.com last week. "The more the United States > tries to stifle freedom of expression, the more determined we will become > to break the silence. America will lose the media war, too." > > Hatred, hidden messages > > There are dozens of suspected terrorist Web sites, many of which were > started after the U.S.-led war on terrorism began last fall. Most of the > Web sites are written in Arabic. All carry statements that express hatred > for the United States and its allies and fatwas, or religious rulings, > that call on militant Muslims to kill Americans and attack U.S. interests. > USA TODAY examined many of the sites and had the information there > translated from Arabic into English. Among the most prominent sites: > > * Azzam.com, a site that U.S. officials believe is linked with > al-Qaeda, is urging Muslims to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight > "the Jewish-backed American Crusaders," or U.S. soldiers. It gives such > travelers tips on how to avoid raising suspicions of employers, diplomats > and police. > > "If you are working, either resign from your job and take a year off or > request unpaid leave from your employer. Many large companies offer unpaid > leave to their employees for periods ranging from two months to one year. > That way you can fulfill your obligation (of jihad) and not have to give > up your job," the site says. > > U.S. officials say azzam.com contains encrypted messages in its pictures > and texts - a practice known as steganography. They say the hidden > messages contain instructions for al-Qaeda's next terrorist attacks. > Mathematicians and other experts at the National Security Agency at Fort > Meade, Md., are using supercomputers to try to break the encryption codes > and thwart the attacks. > > At least one known al-Qaeda operative has accessed the site, European > officials say. German intelligence agencies, which broke into the site > last fall, found an e-mail address for Said Bahaji, a suspected member of > the al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that planned parts of the Sept. 11 > attacks. Bahaji, who was last seen in Germany, has since disappeared. > > * Almuhajiroun.com, an English-language Web site also linked to > al-Qaeda, urges sympathizers to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez > Musharraf. The Web site, which pictures Musharraf, refers to him as "the > American puppet." It calls U.S. troops in Pakistan and Afghanistan > "soldiers of Satan." > > "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and > strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be > murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on > opposite sides or they should be imprisoned," the site says in apparent > reference to Musharraf. > > * Qassam.net, a site U.S. officials believe is linked to the > militant Muslim group Hamas, is appealing for donations to purchase AK-47 > rifles, dynamite and bullets "to assist the cause of jihad and resistance > until the (Israeli) occupation is eliminated and Muslim Palestine is > liberated." It recommends donations of $3 per bullet, $100 per kilogram > (2.2 pounds) of dynamite, $2,000 for a Kalashnikov assault rifle and > $12,000 for a rocket-propelled grenade. > > Donors are asked to send an e-mail to an address on the Web site. > Recently, they received a response telling them to transfer money to > "Ahmed Mohammed Ali, Elbatech Bank, account no.: 38926/9/510 Arab bank - > Gaza branch - Palestine." The account name and number appear to change > every 48 to 72 hours. "Dear Donor: Please tell us the field in which you > prefer your money to be spent on such as: martyrdom attacks; buying > weapons for the mujahadeen; training the youth; or inventing and > developing missiles, mortars (and) explosives," the e-mail said. > > U.S. officials say they are monitoring the site, which is hosted by an > American company, to see who is using it to donate to Hamas. They say they > intend to prosecute those Americans who contribute. > > Until the site was taken down, alneda.com carried a warning from Abu > Ghaith saying the United States should "fasten its seat belt" and prepare > for more terrorist attacks. The site, which featured the words "No pride > without jihad," also contained encrypted information that directed > al-Qaeda members to a more secure site where instructions for attacks were > given, U.S. officials say. > > Other Internet sites, including jihadunspun.net, offer a 36-minute video > of bin Laden, with four minutes of previously unaired footage; pictures of > President Bush with his head in the sights of a gun; and other propaganda. > > Not all the Islamic Web sites are calling for a jihad against the United > States. The alsaha.com site has hosted chat rooms where members criticize > bin Laden and al-Qaeda for their misuse of Islam. "(Bin Laden) is a > disgrace to our religion and has made a mockery of everything we believe," > said one comment posted on alsaha.com. "He is not an Islamist; he is a > terrorist who deserves to be killed. God bless and protect America!" > > Easy to set up > > It's easy for terrorists to set up a Web site, officials and experts say. > > In the case of alneda.com, al-Qaeda members used a made-up name, "The > Center for Islamic Studies and Research," a bogus street address in > Venezuela and a free Hotmail e-mail account to contact a Web hosting > company in Malaysia called Emerge Systems, U.S. intelligence officials > say. The group then wired $87 to a Malaysian bank to pay for the cost of > the Web site for a year. > > "Internet communications have become the main communications system among > al-Qaeda around the world because it's safer, easier and more anonymous if > they take the right precautions, and I think they're doing that," former > CIA counterterrorism chief Vince Cannistraro says. > > But al-Qaeda operatives now are urging their members to use caution. Just > before alneda.com was pulled off its server, it warned its members that > the site was probably being monitored by the FBI, CIA and Customs Service. > It promised to e-mail members the new address of the Web site once it was > in operation. It also told them they could find the address in chat rooms > on other terror sites, such as Hamas' qassam.net. > > "We strongly urge Muslim Internet professionals to spread and disseminate > news and information about the jihad through e-mail lists, discussion > groups and their own Web sites," says a statement on azzam.com. "The more > Web sites, the better it is for us. We must make the Internet our tool." > >
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